Ubuntu System Panel (USP)

[Krydahl]

Just installed this - looks great.

A couple of questions. I seem to have a grey border around it. I'd assumed that ticking the hide border box would get rid of this. It doesn't seem to. Is there any way to hide it, or at least change the color? It doesn't fit too well with my theme.

Also, is it possible to control where on the screen USP appears? Thanks.

[Krydahl]

OK I take it back, It seemed to work great, but then I restarted my PC. USP disappeared off my panel and attempts to add it back seem to add a single white pixel.

Help!

[lurchnz]

Fantastic menu system, coming along nicely. Ubuntu should put their weight behind this and release it as part of their package. With a little bit of a clean up and closer links to Ubuntu, it would finish the deskop gui off.

Good work :-)

[Krydahl]

Re-running the install seemed to fix my disappearing icon. Let's hope it hangs around a bit longer this time.

[geekcliff]

Is this project dead?:confused:

[delfick]

Is this project dead?:confused:

I like to think it's in hibernation :)

gives the hope that it might wake up one day and continue to move forward :p

(the two developers, Malac and Chanders both moved houses and since then not much has happened)

[Malac]

Is this project dead?:confused:
Hopefully not.

I am currently trying to find time to work on USP2 now I'm more settled in my new home (still loads of boxes to unpack but at least my computers are up and running again).

I had a bit of a delay after doing the overdue upgrade from Feisty to Gutsy trashed a few things and I had to track them down.

I have still not heard anything from chanders so I have no idea where we stand on USP3 dev or whether he wants to go on with USP project at all...... I do.

Also Quikee has started work on another version of USP2 in which he has "re-designed" the core and plugin code which I have not really had any time to look at either. I'm unsure as yet if this "re-designed" USP2 is intended to replace the original USP2 or if they are to be integrated at some point taking the best bits from each.
Hopefully Quikee won't mind if I stick in my twopenneth if the "re-designed" core is to be the way forward.

Hope this helps.

[Malac]

hi delfick, you got in first :).

[delfick]

hi delfick, you got in first :).

does that mean I get a gold star ? :) lol

One day I'll learn python and get joined in usp development :D
(uni just started again so that goal is once again pushed back)
(was too interested in flex during these holidays (http://code.google.com/p/flashbsm/))

[Malac]

does that mean I get a gold star ? :) lol

One day I'll learn python and get joined in usp development :D
(uni just started again so that goal is once again pushed back)
(was too interested in flex during these holidays (http://code.google.com/p/flashbsm/))
Another gold star to delfick. :)

I'll checkout the flashbsm tonight.
I'm on a clients computer at the mo' supposedly working on there code but waiting for compile thought I'd scan the forum, better get off.
Au revoir

[delfick]

Another gold star to delfick. :)

yay ! :D

I'll checkout the flashbsm tonight.

cool

I'm on a clients computer

lol :D

[geekcliff]

Hopefully not.

I am currently trying to find time to work on USP2 now I'm more settled in my new home (still loads of boxes to unpack but at least my computers are up and running again).

I had a bit of a delay after doing the overdue upgrade from Feisty to Gutsy trashed a few things and I had to track them down.

I have still not heard anything from chanders so I have no idea where we stand on USP3 dev or whether he wants to go on with USP project at all...... I do.

Also Quikee has started work on another version of USP2 in which he has "re-designed" the core and plugin code which I have not really had any time to look at either. I'm unsure as yet if this "re-designed" USP2 is intended to replace the original USP2 or if they are to be integrated at some point taking the best bits from each.
Hopefully Quikee won't mind if I stick in my twopenneth if the "re-designed" core is to be the way forward.

Hope this helps.

This is great news, USP is just what linux gnome needs, it may tempt more windows people over, if i ever do a demo to anyone i always use linux mint3, cos it use your menu and beryl works on the live disc, that usualy gets the real geeks drueling, if you show anyone the standard gnome menu they usualy compare it to win98, at least USP looks 21st century.
(I Think most people regard me as a Linux bore, but i dont care, cos I LOVE IT!)

[Malac]

Thanks geekcliff. :)

[myname]

I just installed USP_0.41-1 in Gutsy, and all of the Control Center buttons/links do not bring up the Ubuntu control center.

Is there a way to modify/customize the menu?

--kevin

[delfick]

I just installed USP_0.41-1 in Gutsy, and all of the Control Center buttons/links do not bring up the Ubuntu control center.

Is there a way to modify/customize the menu?

--kevin

hello

firstly, 0.4.1 is old, you'll want the svn version :) http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list

once that's installed, right click on the usp and choose preferences.

you should have a tab for each plugin you have chosen in the list on the right there.

the one you want is the settings tab, (should be self-explanatory when you see it :p, if not please say)

...

[myname]

ok, got that installed, Thanx.

however, the command for the "control center" is gcontrol. I typed that into a command window and received "Command not found".

What is the command to bring up the Ubuntu control center, if there is one?

--Kevin

[delfick]

ok, got that installed, Thanx.

no probs :)

however, the command for the "control center" is gcontrol. I typed that into a command window and received "Command not found".

What is the command to bring up the Ubuntu control center, if there is one?

--Kevin

I don't believe there is one by default in ubuntu...

but there is this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=207894

[myname]

Thanx, the command is gnome-control-center. It appears it's already installed in gutsy, hopefully the correct version of UCC is installed.

This seems to work only under the Control Center option from "System Management" and does not work from the Control Center under "Computer" from within USP.

Any ideas?

-Kevin

[Malac]

Thanx, the command is gnome-control-center. It appears it's already installed in gutsy, hopefully the correct version of UCC is installed.

This seems to work only under the Control Center option from "System Management" and does not work from the Control Center under "Computer" from within USP.

Any ideas?

-Kevin
I have tested this with my own setup and it should work fine from USP Computer/Settings plugin(still don't know why this isn't just called Settings).

Here is how my config page looks: 62135

If after checking this it still does not work,
then remove USP from the panel,
open terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal)
type usp run-in-windowSome messages will appear telling you what usp is doing.
Hit the Control Center button and see what errors, if any, are listed then post them here.

Hope this helps

[geekcliff]

I See on the above screenshot, you got all the plugins, ive tried this but cant get them to work, i followed the instructions on the download page, which was add them to "/home/<yourusername>/.usp/plugins", the plugins folder i created, i did unzip them first, was this correct?

[geekcliff]

Its ok, i sorted it out, it was me being a numpty.:lolflag:

[LordOfThePigs]

Hello,

I'm trying to get compiz to make the USP window transparent, but I can't figure out how to do that. Does anybody know the exact settings for compiz to make it work?

Ideally, I would like to make it both transparent and blurred.

Thanks for your help.

[delfick]

you won't be able to make it have "real transparency" (where the icons and text are not transparent, but the background is)

but you can use this guide here http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/WindowMatching to fill out the window match option for:

ccsm -> general options -> opacity settings -> window opacities : for making the window transparent

and

ccsm -> blur -> alpha blur windows : to make everything behind the menu blurred...

good luck :)

[LordOfThePigs]

thanks, I made it work the way I wanted. The matching rule I used is name=usp. At an opacity of about 80%, even if the text is not fully opaque, it still looks like it is, so the effect is convincing enough. Real transparency would be great though :)

[Krydahl]

I have a minor issue with USP2 at the moment. Quit doesn't work.

The command in System Management (gnome-session-save --kill) works fine from a terminal, but doesn't seem to do anything when I click the link in USP2. Anyone got any ideas?

[Malac]

I have a minor issue with USP2 at the moment. Quit doesn't work.

The command in System Management (gnome-session-save --kill) works fine from a terminal, but doesn't seem to do anything when I click the link in USP2. Anyone got any ideas?
Try running USP from a terminal, like so: usp run-in-windowand choosing Quit and see if there is any output from it.

Actually this would be the first thing to try for any problem with USP as sometime this throws out an obvious answer.

[Krydahl]

Thanks for responding.

I tried running from the terminal. As it loaded I got the following:
*********** Keybind Failure **************
Using Standard Menu
system_management: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
Hotkey Binding Error

However, when I clicked quit from the instance started from the terminal it worked correctly.

Quit from the version on my panel still doesn't do anything. Weird.

Anything else I can try?

[dasbooter]

I still have the problem where you cannot type in the search box. Also clicking on the desktop with usp open doesnt close usp as it used too. I remember having similiar issues with an svn install in feisty with beryl and I thought it was fixed by changing focus stealing to none in beryl manager. I am now using gutsy, usp svn as of todays post, and compizfusion git .I have googled and read extensively on the problem and I have tried entering a number of things ccsm's focus prevention windows. I have even tried altering sudo gedit /usr/share/usp/usp2.glade
to change it to a menu type from another thread but have had no success. Please enlighten me usp is far and ahead anything else in Ubuntu as far as I am concerned... it is just being difficult right now :(

hilarious... 2 seconds later I tried removing usp from the panel and re-adding and now it is working fine. I have typed "!type=MENU" in the aforementioned window b/c of the line I altered as mentioned before. I swear even a restart of the system did not fix this... how is that possible.

[Malac]

Thanks for responding.

I tried running from the terminal. As it loaded I got the following:
*********** Keybind Failure **************
Using Standard Menu
system_management: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
Hotkey Binding ErrorHowever, when I clicked quit from the instance started from the terminal it worked correctly.

Quit from the version on my panel still doesn't do anything. Weird.

Anything else I can try?

I can't understand this one at all this works perfectly on my Gutsy and Hardy test systems. Can you do a Backup of your USP settings ( right-click->Preferences->Backup ) and add it as a post attachment on this thread. I'll test it here and see if that throws out anything.


I still have the problem where you cannot type in the search box. Also clicking on the desktop with usp open doesnt close usp as it used too. I remember having similiar issues with an svn install in feisty with beryl and I thought it was fixed by changing focus stealing to none in beryl manager. I am now using gutsy, usp svn as of todays post, and compizfusion git .I have googled and read extensively on the problem and I have tried entering a number of things ccsm's focus prevention windows. I have even tried altering sudo gedit /usr/share/usp/usp2.glade
to change it to a menu type from another thread but have had no success. Please enlighten me usp is far and ahead anything else in Ubuntu as far as I am concerned... it is just being difficult right now :(

hilarious... 2 seconds later I tried removing usp from the panel and re-adding and now it is working fine. I have typed "!type=MENU" in the aforementioned window b/c of the line I altered as mentioned before. I swear even a restart of the system did not fix this... how is that possible.
It's a strange thing with Gnome/Compiz that I have noticed a reboot doesn't always commit changes with applets/or focus settings (not just USP), sometimes I have had to remove applet, reboot, re-add the applet then reboot to get changes to "take".

Glad your problem is sorted though.

[Krydahl]

This is obviously something weird with my install. I've recently added USP to my laptop and this works find on that. The machine that's playing up is the one in my sig. The onboard graphics for this mobo are nvidia GeForce 6150.

The backup file you asked for is attached. Thanks for looking at this.

[Krydahl]

Damn - file didn't attach. You can't upload xml files to this site apparently. Saved as txt instead,

[Malac]

Damn - file didn't attach. You can't upload xml files to this site apparently. Saved as txt instead,
I have attached a slightly different version of the system_management plugin to this post.
If you could download this to the /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins folder and then from a terminal run:
usp run-in-window -vThis should print out exactly what the plugin is trying to execute when you click the Quit button, hopefully this may help diagnose what the problem is.

[Krydahl]

OK, done that. This time I got:*********** Keybind Failure **************
Using Standard Menu
Loading plugin 'system_management' : successful
Loading plugin 'applications' : successful
Loading plugin 'places' : successful
Hotkey Binding Error
<gtk.Button object at 0xfccfa0 (GtkButton at 0xdb6ce0)> ['gnome-session-save', '--kill']

But do bear in mind that it always worked ok when run in the terminal.

[Malac]

OK, done that. This time I got:*********** Keybind Failure **************
Using Standard Menu
Loading plugin 'system_management' : successful
Loading plugin 'applications' : successful
Loading plugin 'places' : successful
Hotkey Binding Error
<gtk.Button object at 0xfccfa0 (GtkButton at 0xdb6ce0)> ['gnome-session-save', '--kill']But do bear in mind that it always worked ok when run in the terminal.
Okay, well that's correct.
As this seemed to work on your other machine and it is working on both of my test rigs and normal machine,
all I can suggest now is re-install gnome-session in synaptic or with aptitude:sudo aptitude reinstall gnome-sessionand hope this solves the problem.
If not try reinstalling python.

Sorry for vague response but I'm flummoxed.

[Krydahl]

That's all right. Thanks for looking at it. It's not a big deal. As a workaround I've just added a quit button to my panel.

If you want bugs to look at :) here another minor glitch (and this does happen on both my machines).

I click the USP button, the menu appears. I select the app I want, click it, the USP menu disappears and the app starts - but the USP button stays clicked.

Now, if I want to start another app, I click the USP button and that deselects it. No menu. I have to click the USP button again to get the menu back.

Not that I want to sound like I'm complaining. USP2 is way ahead of any of the other menu options I've tried. Keep up the great work. One day I'll learn python and glade and start helping on projects like this instead of just using them.

[nymusicman]

You know what would make this application complete, at least for me (and hopefully a few other people out their as well). The search box to also be a command line run box. Or at least add a command line run box or access to the run feature.

[Malac]

You know what would make this application complete, at least for me (and hopefully a few other people out their as well). The search box to also be a command line run box. Or at least add a command line run box or access to the run feature.
Have you tried the terminal plugin it can be sized to be just one line if you like, this might work for you.

It's available in the tar.gz here http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/downloads/list

Just extract the terminal py and glade files to /home/<username>/.usp/plugins/ folder or to the main plugins folder. Then add it to the plugins list.

Hope this helps.

[Mazza558]

I'd just like to say... this thing is incredible. I love it!

[Mazza558]

Is there a plugin to open folders? That'd be awesome.

[Malac]

Is there a plugin to open folders? That'd be awesome.
There's the places plugin which lists either your mounted drives plus Home, Desktop, Computer and Network. This also shows the gtk bookmarks (the ones in the side pane of nautilus windows) you can set it to show the bookmarks by default in Places section of Preferences.

Or there's the shortcuts plugin which you can add folders to by dragging the folder from an open nautilus window, hold it over the USP menu button until it opens, then onto the space below the Shortcuts heading. First one is a little tricky as the target area is only one line high (you'll know when you see a black line that you've got it) but gets easier after that.
You can add spaces and/or separators to the list, change icons and/or names to help organize them using the right click menu.
Once the shortcuts are added it will need a reload or logoff/logon to activate them, this is a small bug.
I'm currently working on this plugin to try to get rid of this and also to change some of the underlying files to make it more logical and get font size changes to take effect immediately.

(Edit : Done this now. If any one updates can they redo their shortcuts lists by renaming /home/<username>/.usp/places folder to shortcuts and /home/<username>/.usp/places.list file to shortcuts.list then edit shortcuts.list and replace all occurences of "places" with "shortcuts", reload USP. Thanks).
The code below should do this :

cd ~/.usp
mv places shortcuts
mv places.list shortcuts.list
sed -i 's/places/shortcuts/g' shortcuts.list


65516
Any problems let me know here.

Hope this helps.

[Malac]

Updated shortcuts Drag/Drop again (Rev# 276)
Got rid of the first shortcut being a bit tricky to get the Drop by making the whole plugin below the title receive Drop info.

Hope this makes it more usable.

[Malac]

Updated recent plugin to hide thumbnails as this was slowing down people who had lots of recent files.
Added more explanation to "Number of Document Entries" spin to limit the number of thumbnails generated in Preferences(uspconfig)

added boolean gconf entry /apps/usp/plugins/recent/hide_document_thumbnails

Now on Rev #277.

[Malac]

Now at Rev #279.
Added Edit Menu option to right-click which opens alacarte.
Updated applications to show any menu changes immediately without having to call Reload.

[delfick]

Now at Rev #279.
Added Edit Menu option to right-click which opens alacarte.
Updated applications to show any menu changes immediately without having to call Reload.

very nice :)

[Malac]

very nice :)
Thank you :)

Working on sub-folders now as I remember seeing this asked for somewhere.

[Mazza558]

Hi,

It'd be cool if you created the option for the categories of apps to show their icons too. also, a small divider between the categories and actual apps would be nice. Thanks...

[Mazza558]

I've also found a strange bug where adding a shortcut to the Shortcuts plugin works with some and not with others. I drag 2 shortcuts to exactly the same place on the panel, one works and the other doesn't. They have the same icon and command.

[Malac]

It'd be cool if you created the option for the categories of apps to show their icons too. also, a small divider between the categories and actual apps would be nice. Thanks...
I will look into these.

I've also found a strange bug where adding a shortcut to the Shortcuts plugin works with some and not with others. I drag 2 shortcuts to exactly the same place on the panel, one works and the other doesn't. They have the same icon and command.
I hope I'm understanding you correctly but here goes; you can't drag two shortcuts to the plugin if they have the same command and icon this is not a bug it is intentional but thanks for reporting it.

[Malac]

Okay I have a test version of applications.py to try on anyone willing to give it a go.
I thought I'd post it here instead of to SVN as it still needs testing and is nowhere near ready.
At the moment the folders are using bold text to distinguish them hence the Category Buttons are too. I can make this an option. if it is preferred.
Side effects so far; the lower folder apps are taken out of the Filter and All Category.
This also has Mazza558's category icon buttons.(sort of)

Any thoughts/comments/(abuse:() post/pm me.
It is still in heavy test mode please backup your applications.py or rename the test one and add it as a separate plugin by that name.

Test File Update now on Page 81 post #807

[Mazza558]

Okay I have a test version of applications.py to try on anyone willing to give it a go.
I thought I'd post it here instead of to SVN as it still needs testing and is nowhere near ready.
At the moment the folders are using bold text to distinguish them hence the Category Buttons are too. I can make this an option. if it is preferred.
Side effects so far; the lower folder apps are taken out of the Filter and All Category.
This also has Mazza558's category icon buttons.(sort of)

Any thoughts/comments/(abuse:() post/pm me.
It is still in heavy test mode please backup your applications.py or rename the test one and add it as a separate plugin by that name.



Hi, I gave it a go, and there's no difference between this one and the older one - I tried reloading the plugins and even the whole applet, with no difference.

[Malac]

Hi, I gave it a go, and there's no difference between this one and the older one - I tried reloading the plugins and even the whole applet, with no difference.
Sorry, my bad, I thought I'd typed it in but I didn't, the gconf key is:
/apps/usp/plugins/applications/show_category_button_iconthis needs to be set to True (ticked in gconf-editor).
If you have no sub-folders this won't be any different apart from the icons on Category Buttons (they are currently being clipped as well).

[Lostincyberspace]

I have the latest USP from svn how do I use the config and where do I find it?

[Malac]

I have the latest USP from svn how do I use the config and where do I find it?
Either in a terminal :
uspconfig or :
right-click USP button and choose "Preferences" or:

Open gconf-editor [Applications->System Tools->Configuration Editor] and navigate to /apps/usp

Hope this helps.

[MemoryDump]

excuse my ignorance and not having gone through all 81 pages of this thread.. but where do I download the latest version of this app? or should I say how?
I was looking at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=229014 which is on the first post, however it seems like it hasn't been updated in quite some time.

thxs :D

[Malac]

excuse my ignorance and not having gone through all 81 pages of this thread.. but where do I download the latest version of this app? or should I say how?
I was looking at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=229014 which is on the first post, however it seems like it hasn't been updated in quite some time.

thxs :D
Installation instructions are here:
http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list

Hope this helps.

[MemoryDump]

Installation instructions are here:
http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list

Hope this helps.
ahh cool.. I had just found this before your reply. thanks :)

Installation
Installation and updating of USP SVN.
Introduction

Installation Instructions provided by kobewan
Details

Please Note:- If you are running beryl you will need to set focus stealing to "None" to use USP.

Installation All you need to do is make sure that you have Subversion, so that you can download the SVN. Run this command:

sudo apt-get install subversion

Alright, now cd to the directory that you want to download it to. For example, I like to use ~/Downloads/SVN , so that's where I'll go:

cd ~/Downloads/SVN

now run

svn checkout http://ubuntu-system-panel.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ubuntu-system-panel

This should download all the correct files that you need. Now, put in

cd ubuntu-system-panel

and then

./usp_update install fresh

That should install it for you, as well as clearing out the old version!

Before you finally get to add the applet to your panel, do this:

killall gnome-panel

Your Panel(s) will disappear for a few seconds then re-appear. Don't worry this is correct.

Now you can right click on any empty panel area, and select 'Add to Panel'. You should see 'Ubuntu System Panel' under the 'Miscellaneous' group.

Updating Whenever you want to get the latest SVN version of USP, 'cd' to the directory that contains the SVN files (in the above example it was ~/Downloads/SVN) and type

./usp_update update

This should display a log of all the changes that were made between the version that you have and the newest version. It will then download all the files that you need and attempt to install them. You will most likely need to enter your password before USP is updated.

Uninstallation

You can also uninstall USP by going to the directory that contains the SVN files (in the above example it was ~/Downloads/SVN) and typing in

./usp_update uninstall

If you want to uninstall completely, including removing your settings, put in

./usp_update uninstall complete


from the wiki: http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list

[Malac]

New test applications with glade file and py file not sure if this is the way to go or whether popup menu maybe better for sub-folders. Thoughts.....................

[bijeeshvs]

hi guys i installed USP and i am pretty impressed with the concept anyhow i would like to suggest a few modifications
1) to click to get the applications list is a bad idea if the menu could learn and display the most used and recently used list on its first appearance that could be great
2) my theme was unable to theme the panel it was able to cover the gnome menu but USP was not covered
if these things are done then i will say goodbye to the gnome menu..........................
thanks for the effort

[Malac]

hi guys i installed USP and i am pretty impressed with the concept anyhow i would like to suggest a few modifications
Thanks :)
1) to click to get the applications list is a bad idea if the menu could learn and display the most used and recently used list on its first appearance that could be great
There is a recent plugin, I'm at a Win machine and can't check but I'm not sure it's enabled by default.
Just go to "Preferences" on the right click menu and add recent to the plugins list hit "Save" and it should appear. It tracks recent applications and documents.
I'm currently working on this plugin as at the moment it only tracks the most recent not the most used applications.
2) my theme was unable to theme the panel it was able to cover the gnome menu but USP was not covered
if these things are done then i will say goodbye to the gnome menu..........................
thanks for the effort
USP use the current gtk theme that is used by Gnome at all times unless in "Preferences" the box on the first page has something in it. Check there is nothing in there. Also a change of theme will require a logout/login or restart of USP.

Hope this helps.

[bijeeshvs]

first of all i am sorry, i was using your first version as it was not clear which version i was using and upto which version u have reached. Now i got the latest version and its running fine and thank you for such great software, but i was a bit confused to track the versions as its not easy to go through all those pages (81 i think) and on the last page i found how to get the latest version. So make some transparency in getting the files the plugins were easier to get , maybe its my fault any how thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Malac]

first of all i am sorry, i was using your first version as it was not clear which version i was using and upto which version u have reached. Now i got the latest version and its running fine and thank you for such great software, but i was a bit confused to track the versions as its not easy to go through all those pages (81 i think) and on the last page i found how to get the latest version. So make some transparency in getting the files the plugins were easier to get , maybe its my fault any how thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are right.
It's a mess at the moment.

I would like to get a version into the Ubuntu repos soon as I think we are missing a lot of people who might find it useful.

We could do with removing the 0.41 thread or at least !un-stickying! it.
I suppose I could start a thread for the latest .deb file and try to get it stickied.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Malac]

Okay I've added the extra plugins to the SVN (Rev #284).
They still need to be manually installed at the moment from the "usp-extras" folder where you download the SVN.
Perhaps PsyberOne can amend the usp_update file with an "extras" command line option to install into the /home/<username>/.usp/plugins location.

[amerioz]

great Panel , I love it
I've searched gnome-look and other websites for USP themes but didnt find any! does anybody know where to find good USP themes?

[delfick]

Okay I've added the extra plugins to the SVN (Rev #284).
They still need to be manually installed at the moment from the "usp-extras" folder where you download the SVN.
Perhaps PsyberOne can amend the usp_update file with an "extras" command line option to install into the /home/<username>/.usp/plugins location.

cool :)

for now I'm just gonna make a link in ~/.usp called plugins that will point to the usp-extras folder....

[Malac]

for now I'm just gonna make a link in ~/.usp called plugins that will point to the usp-extras folder....
Hadn't thought of that (bit of a dense day, need more sleep)but it just might work. :)
great Panel , I love it
I've searched gnome-look and other websites for USP themes but didnt find any! does anybody know where to find good USP themes?
All GTK themes are compatible with USP some look better than others.
The only purpose written USP theme I know of is by roberTO and you can find info here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=357368

Hope this helps.

[amerioz]

Thank Malac
I know all gtk themes applies on USP too , but I was looking for customized USP themes , I've checked the url you gave me but for my bad the links provided in the thread arent available !

[Malac]

Thank Malac
I know all gtk themes applies on USP too , but I was looking for customized USP themes , I've checked the url you gave me but for my bad the links provided in the thread arent available !
Found this one but have not tried it out.
http://elgg.org/tom/files/9/380/USP-theme.zip

And attached my copy of solidwhite but I think it's an old one.

[BlackDex]

Hey Malac, thx for this greate menu.
I Used gimmie before, but this is so much better.

But i have found a small buggy, and fixed it localy.
The uspUser doesn't show my username and login correctly.
I use Hardy Final, and this is what my 'who -s' outputs.
blackdex tty7 2008-04-29 21:20 (:0)
blackdex pts/0 2008-04-29 22:03 (:0.0)
blackdex pts/1 2008-04-29 22:05 (:0.0)

At line #174 of uspuser.py there is a check if the len is more then 5, if so the offset is set to 4 so it will get the next line, but this gives the wrong username etc..
I commented out line #174 and #175, and it now works as it should.

I hope you can fix this small problem.
Thx again for this nice menu.

[amerioz]

Thanx Malac , I was looking for that
but you know I just found out that I can apply GTK themes to USP without applying them to whole system =)
thanx alot mate

[Quikee]

Hey Malac, thx for this greate menu.
I Used gimmie before, but this is so much better.

But i have found a small buggy, and fixed it localy.
The uspUser doesn't show my username and login correctly.
I use Hardy Final, and this is what my 'who -s' outputs.
blackdex tty7 2008-04-29 21:20 (:0)
blackdex pts/0 2008-04-29 22:03 (:0.0)
blackdex pts/1 2008-04-29 22:05 (:0.0)

At line #174 of uspuser.py there is a check if the len is more then 5, if so the offset is set to 4 so it will get the next line, but this gives the wrong username etc..
I commented out line #174 and #175, and it now works as it should.

I hope you can fix this small problem.
Thx again for this nice menu.

To get the username in a safe way use:
import getpass
getpass.getuser()

No need to parse what 'who' returns.

[bijeeshvs]

hello friend your menu is soo cool and effective and i love it a lot, i think after building such a great menu u are after adding more options to it. I mean like the calender and calculator stuff , i have one request to you please find time to stream line the menu make it more intelligent, make it learn things thereby making it more user friendly. I have one suggestion if u provide an edit mode for the menu that is rather than entering the values in the combo boxes ( for size and orientation ) and reload the menu to see the changes , in the edit mode an user can freely manipulate the menu ( resize, shift, add and move objects resize objects that is each pane in the menu) on the fly that could be cool. i know it may be complex i was just making a wish

Also make it more effects friendly ( like transperency ) if it was as transperent like a emerald title window glass that could be fantastic



only my wishes dont think i am asking for too much ..........


but i love the whole thing


its great................................

[Krydahl]

I can't help with all the technical stuff, obviously, but if you're running Compiz you can get the usp panel transparent easily.

In the advanced-desktop manager, go into General Options -> Opacity Settings.

Add an entry using name=usp and set the Opacity to whatever value you like.

[bijeeshvs]

Thank you for that information, actually i didnt know that ( setting transparency for a specific window can be done)
and i was not asking about how to do that i was just making a suggestion in these type of transparency every thing in the window get transparent that makes it unreadable, i was talking about making it transparent like the avant window navigator icons and details are visible but the menu is transparent like glass thats it once again Thank you .............

[Malac]

To get the username in a safe way use:
import getpass
getpass.getuser()

No need to parse what 'who' returns.
Thanks, I'll check into that Quikee but I would like to include the uptime as well and I'm not on an ubuntu machine at the mo' to check out what that module reports.
hello friend your menu is soo cool and effective and i love it a lot, i think after building such a great menu u are after adding more options to it. I mean like the calender and calculator stuff
Thanks.
The calendar and other extra plugins are now in the SVN repo.
If you make a link in /home/<username>/.usp called plugins to the usp-extras folder in the folder you downloaded the svn to these will be available to add. i have one request to you please find time to stream line the menu make it more intelligent, make it learn things thereby making it more user friendly. I have one suggestion if u provide an edit mode for the menu that is rather than entering the values in the combo boxes ( for size and orientation ) and reload the menu to see the changes , in the edit mode an user can freely manipulate the menu ( resize, shift, add and move objects resize objects that is each pane in the menu) on the fly that could be cool. i know it may be complex i was just making a wish

Also make it more effects friendly ( like transperency ) if it was as transperent like a emerald title window glass that could be fantastic
Drag/Drop and other layout adjustments were being looked into for USP3 and that is on hold at the moment. I will add it to my list.
only my wishes dont think i am asking for too much ..........
No problem

but i love the whole thing

its great................................
Thanks again.

[Malac]

Updated uspuser to SVN now Rev #289 using getpass as Quikee suggested (cheers).
Still have to parse "who" for times but only if user wants it displayed.
Unless anyone can help translating /var/log/lastlog.
Added /apps/usp/plugins/user/show_full_name option to gconf
Altered Preferences section for User to allow for this.

[Quikee]

Still have to parse "who" for times but only if user wants it displayed.
Unless anyone can help translating /var/log/lastlog.


#! /usr/bin/env python

from __future__ import with_statement
import struct
import time
import pwd
import os


class LastLog(object):
def __init__(self, logName):
self.logName = logName
self.logStruct = 'i32s256s'
self.logStructLength = struct.calcsize(self.logStruct)

def getLoginTime(self, pid):
with open(self.logName, 'rb') as file:
file.seek(self.logStructLength * pid, os.SEEK_SET)
entry = file.read(self.logStructLength)
if not entry:
return 0
login = struct.unpack(self.logStruct, entry)
return login[0]

def getLoginTimeAsString(self, pid):
return time.ctime(self.getLoginTime(pid))

lastLog = LastLog('/var/log/lastlog')
for userData in pwd.getpwall():
pid = userData[2]
print userData[0], lastLog.getLoginTimeAsString(pid)

Yey.

[Malac]

#! /usr/bin/env python

from __future__ import with_statement
import struct
import time
import pwd...................
<><><><><><><><>
......og = LastLog('/var/log/lastlog')
for userData in pwd.getpwall():
pid = userData[2]
print userData[0], lastLog.getLoginTimeAsString(pid)Yey.
Thanks Quikee,
I tried something similar but my login kept coming back way out, i.e. Thu Mar 20 18:14:32 2008 for today.
While the one from "who -u" was coming back as 2008-05-03 16:13 which was right at the time.
My /var/log/lastlog must be screwed or the code is not adding up correctly from the ticks.
This is why I went back to "who -u" with getpass it means I can do a search of the output and seek the right login.
My only idea why it would be wrong is that it's something to do with English dates as opposed to US format. in the calculations.

Thanks.

[Quikee]

Thanks Quikee,
I tried something similar but my login kept coming back way out, i.e. Thu Mar 20 18:14:32 2008 for today.
While the one from "who -u" was coming back as 2008-05-03 16:13 which was right at the time.
My /var/log/lastlog must be screwed or the code is not adding up correctly from the ticks.
This is why I went back to "who -u" with getpass it means I can do a search of the output and seek the right login.
My only idea why it would be wrong is that it's something to do with English dates as opposed to US format. in the calculations.

Thanks.

When I checked it now it doesn't work for me also (however the program parses it fine because it adds up with the 'lastlog' command). Looks like when you login in gdm it doesn't count as a login that goes into lastlog but only if you login in terminal (tty) or via ssh.

If I am not mistaken, who reads its data from /var/run/utmp which could also be parsed. The structure is well defined ('man utmp') but I don't have time currently to mess with it. ;)

[Malac]

When I checked it now it doesn't work for me also (however the program parses it fine because it adds up with the 'lastlog' command). Looks like when you login in gdm it doesn't count as a login that goes into lastlog but only if you login in terminal (tty) or via ssh.

If I am not mistaken, who reads its data from /var/run/utmp which could also be parsed. The structure is well defined ('man utmp') but I don't have time currently to mess with it. ;)
Cheers Quikee that was my next one to look at too. :)

I've found python-utmp which gives the struct of the utmp and wtmp files but there should be a utmpaccess as well but I can't find it at the mo'.
I may revert to using the output of 'last -f var/run/utmp' instead as an easy option.

[nymusicman]

This would be the most ultimate start menu ever made for gnome if:

the filter/search box was also a run box.

So the question goes out, will this ever happen?

[Malac]

This would be the most ultimate start menu ever made for gnome if:

the filter/search box was also a run box.

So the question goes out, will this ever happen?
The search box is already, if the application is at the top of the list of filtered apps when you are entering letters then just hit enter.
As for a specific run box so you can enter command line and switches,etc. the only thing I can suggest at the moment is to use the terminal plugin and make it one line high.
But I may add a separate run box if I can find the time.

Hope this helps.

[tier]

Mm, i edit the code of applications.py. You can run programs which are not present in the list (just type the text, for example "xterm", and press enter).

PS. Sorry for my poor english :)

[Malac]

Mm, i edit the code of applications.py. You can run programs which are not present in the list (just type the text, for example "xterm", and press enter).

PS. Sorry for my poor english :)
Thanks tier, I'll look into it tonight.

[Malac]

Added a run box to SVN Rev #308
This is set to hotkey <Ctrl><Alt>R this can be changed in Preferences.
or gconf key /app/usp/hot_key_run_box for those who prefer gconf-editor.
69673
There is a pull-down list of past commands which can be cleared using the Clear Button.

Hope this helps.

[delfick]

cool

is it possible to put it into the menu itself as well ? :)

[tier]

But it is very similar with standard gnome run dialog :)

PS. In SVN Rev #308 if unchecked Places -> Show Tabbed Selection Method, in the Places i see tabs. It's bug?

[Quikee]

Added a run box to SVN Rev #308
This is set to hotkey <Ctrl><Alt>R this can be changed in Preferences.
or gconf key /app/usp/hot_key_run_box for those who prefer gconf-editor.
69673
There is a pull-down list of past commands which can be cleared using the Clear Button.

Hope this helps.

How is this different to the standard gnome "run box" (alt-F2).. ?

[Malac]

is it possible to put it into the menu itself as well ? :)
Knew I should have done a poll first as to whether people wanted it integrated or as a plugin or as a run dialog.
I've added tier's alterations to allow the search box to execute if there are no apps left in filter list.
But it is very similar with standard gnome run dialog :)
How is this different to the standard gnome "run box" (alt-F2).. ?
Well, it's the same but with less ( #-o)features. :oops: (alt-R in compiz)
Went ahead and coded it and didn't even think of this. Thought it was odd that people kept asking for it.:oops:
In SVN Rev #308 if unchecked Places -> Show Tabbed Selection Method, in the Places i see tabs. It's bug?
Works on mine. Have you tried a "killall gnome-panel" to force reload usp. I'll re-upload places.glade and .py files to the SVN this will be Rev#311.

[Quikee]

Well, it's the same but with less ( #-o)features. :oops: (alt-R in compiz)
Went ahead and coded it and didn't even think of this. Thought it was odd that people kept asking for it.:oops:

Maybe just make the existing "apllications" entry box smarter - the effect would be the same I think (because the entry box has focus when you trigger the key binding). ;) You also could for example in the "new applications" plugin I had the ability to execute shell commands if the prefix was "$", with prefix "?" for example you could add a simple expression evaluator, ...

[tier]

I've added tier's alterations to allow the search box to execute if there are no apps left in filter list.
Thanks :)
Works on mine. Have you tried a "killall gnome-panel" to force reload usp. I'll re-upload places.glade and .py files to the SVN this will be Rev#311.
Rev #331. 1) Go to the Preferences -> Places
2) uncheck Show Tabbed Selection Method. I see combobox instead tabs in USP menu.
3) reload USP, or "killall gnome-panel". I see tabs instead of combobox :(
4) In the Preferences -> Places Show Tabbed Selection Method still unchecked.
I tried it on Ubuntu 7.10 and Archlinux.

[Malac]

Thanks :)

Rev #331. 1) Go to the Preferences -> Places
2) uncheck Show Tabbed Selection Method. I see combobox instead tabs in USP menu.
3) reload USP, or "killall gnome-panel". I see tabs instead of combobox :(
4) In the Preferences -> Places Show Tabbed Selection Method still unchecked.
I tried it on Ubuntu 7.10 and Archlinux.
Sorry, I get it now.
Yes it's a bug, I'll get on it straight away.

EDIT:
Okay fixed. Rev #314
This has highlighted that the plugins need a complete tidy-up/standardisation of the code too.

I've added the option to launch in terminal by prefixing the search with $ character, i.e. $sudo gconf-editor would launch a terminal then those commands.

[tier]

Okay fixed. Rev #314
Thanks, I'm very glad :)
I've added the option to launch in terminal by prefixing the search with $ character
This is very useful innovation!

[Malac]

Thanks, I'm very glad :)
You're Welcome
This is very useful innovation!
Credit to Quikee for the idea.

[Mazza558]

I have an idea. It'd be VERY cool if there was some way to have single-key hotkeys to select tabs quickly. I have the terminal as one of my tabs, and it'd be nice to switch to it straight away.

EDIT: Even cooler than that would be an option to use different buttons on the taskbar to show different tabs separately...

[Malac]

I have an idea. It'd be VERY cool if there was some way to have single-key hotkeys to select tabs quickly. I have the terminal as one of my tabs, and it'd be nice to switch to it straight away.

EDIT: Even cooler than that would be an option to use different buttons on the taskbar to show different tabs separately...
I have been thinking of the hotkey opening specific tabs for a while now, so it is on my list.

Trying to avoid more buttons on the panel/taskbar as I didn't want to use up valuable "real estate". :)

[Malac]

Okay added hotkey switching to tabs. SVN Rev #315

It is done the same way icons are added to tabs but using curly brackets {} instead of square brackets [] e.g.

newtab=Extra/Add-On Plugins[add]{<Shift><Super>E}

gives a tab called "Extra/Add-On Plugins" with an icon using "[add]" on hotkey using "{<Shift><Super>E}"

Please test and let me know if any problems.
Thanks.

[ricochet1269]

I seem to be having trouble installing UPS. I followed the instructions on the googlecode website, but when I get to:
./usp_update install fresh
I get:
bash: ./usp_update: No such file or directory

Any ideas where I messed up?

Nevermind, I got it

[Phristen]

Where is all the configuration stored?
There is .usp folder in home directory but it only contains the lists of recent apps & files.

Also, isn't the Run... thing redundant of Alt+F2?

And the panel seems to be about 5 pixels lower, so its edge overlaps with the gnome panel. How do I fix that?

[Malac]

Where is all the configuration stored?
There is .usp folder in home directory but it only contains the lists of recent apps & files.
The settings are stored in gconf "database", to access this :
Open gconf-editor/"Configuration Editor" on menu
navigate to /apps/usp all the settings for usp itself are there.
/apps/usp/plugins contains plugin specific settings under plugin's name.

Also, isn't the Run... thing redundant of Alt+F2?
Yes, completely redundant really. I never use the run dialog at all. Thought the gnome one had been removed as everyone kept asking for it so I wrote one. I will probably remove this when I have the time as it is just extra space taken up.

And the panel seems to be about 5 pixels lower, so its edge overlaps with the gnome panel. How do I fix that?
Have you tried the usp_offset value in gconf-editor or on "Main" tab in "Preferences"?

[Phristen]

navigate to /apps/uspAha! ;)
Have you tried the usp_offset value in gconf-editor or on "Main" tab in "Preferences"?Yes, but it has no effect.

Also, when I move the mouse over the USP button (i.e. on the GNOME panel), it has no mouseover effect, like the standard gnome-main-menu button. Is that expected behaviour?
And finally, when compiz is working, the USP window is not animated (i.e. open/close animations do not apply to it), whereas gnome-main-menu is fully animated.

Just though I'd post my feedback... Great project overall, I'd love to see it incorporated in GNOME release some day ;)

P.S. I installed from SVN, btw.

[simpson-fan]

Hi!

From where can I get the USP and it is installable?

okay I found it: http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/wiki/Installation

[magnus0]

The application categories should have icons, like in the original gnome applications menu. It's easier to find something then.

[magnus0]

The application categories should have icons, like in the original gnome applications menu. It's easier to find something then.

Oh sorry. I didn't look into the preferences.

[magnus0]

Am I missing something or there isn't any option to show Places menu? I downloaded the latest version from svn

[tier]

Add plugin "places" in the Preferences :)

[bijeeshvs]

hello malac hope u r doing good...................


can u integrate the "AWN Dock" rendering technique into USP if USP looks like a glass bar that could be awesome ( not transparency effects in compiz ) icons and text must be 100% opaque

[Malac]

The application categories should have icons, like in the original gnome applications menu. It's easier to find something then.
This feature has only just been added so it's easy to miss. :)
hello malac hope u r doing good...................
Doing fine thank you bijeeshvs
can u integrate the "AWN Dock" rendering technique into USP if USP looks like a glass bar that could be awesome ( not transparency effects in compiz ) icons and text must be 100% opaque
This would require a re-code pretty much from scratch and I do not have the time at the moment. It is definitely on the cards.
This is so far for the widgets.
74157
And there is a demo of chanders work on usp3 which he was trying to make "skin-able" and/or transparent which I have been working on when I have the time.
74161

For the moment Quikee's version may be more what you want.
It doesn't have as many features yet but does handle transparency.

[bijeeshvs]

Well, Malac take a look at this...............

[chanders]

hello chanders, malac told me that u are working for a transparent version of usp and he showed me two screen shots, can u use the glass rendering engine instead (AWN or Cairo) its much appealing than simple transparency

i have made a post in your thread about it but i don't see u there so sending this private message

Hey, actually all of the rendering is done in Cairo which makes for a beautiful render, however getting Cairo to work with native GTK elements is very tricky, and nothing short of redoing the entire widget in cairo (read:TONS of work)

I wasn't aware AWN had its own rendering engine/widget set? Do you have any reference to that?

[bijeeshvs]

hello chanders, sorry i am not that technical but how is emerald rendering the title bar, can we use that?

[chanders]

hello chanders, sorry i am not that technical but how is emerald rendering the title bar, can we use that?

NO probs ;-) I will do some research into the rendering done by emerald... If I am not mistaken they use cairo but do not need to integrate it with GTK widgets which is where the work really starts..

[tweezyturtle]

hey, I don't know if this has been covered before (this being such a long thread) but I installed USP panel .41 via a .deb and I can no longer find the settings for USP, the only options I get when I right click on it are "About, Remove from panel, Move, and Lock to panel" there are a bunch of things I want to add and change but I can't, can anyone help me?

here's an image of the messed up USP .41 menu...
http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=uspmenuscreenshotkw3.png

[Malac]

hey, I don't know if this has been covered before (this being such a long thread) but I installed USP panel .41 via a .deb and I can no longer find the settings for USP, the only options I get when I right click on it are "About, Remove from panel, Move, and Lock to panel" there are a bunch of things I want to add and change but I can't, can anyone help me?

here's an image of the messed up USP .41 menu...
http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=uspmenuscreenshotkw3.png
0.41 is now out-of-date.
The latest version is 2.0 Beta, installation instructions are available here:-
http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list
If you wish to use 0.41 instead of the latest SVN version then I will try to help.
There is no Preferences option in the 0.41 version. You can download uspconfig app from here:-
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=272372
This works with versions up to 0.41

If you wish to run 0.41 version then:


Plugins must be in the folder /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins or in ~/.usp/plugins to work.
You can configure usp options using the Configuration Editor (Applications->System Tools->Configuration Editor) or run gconf-editor in a terminal. Info is stored here under /apps/usp
Open a terminal and runusp run-in-windowand post the output to help with troubleshooting.

Hope this helps.

[Krydahl]

Hi Malac,

A quick question while you're around. I upgraded to the latests version a while back and I've noticed a change of behaviour. In the applications plugin, if you select 'all applications' USP now groups the application by type (accessories, games etc) where it used to list them alphabetically. I found the old behaviour more useful. Is there a way to change it back? I can't see anything in the preferences.

Thanks.

[Malac]

Hi Malac,

A quick question while you're around. I upgraded to the latests version a while back and I've noticed a change of behaviour. In the applications plugin, if you select 'all applications' USP now groups the application by type (accessories, games etc) where it used to list them alphabetically. I found the old behaviour more useful. Is there a way to change it back? I can't see anything in the preferences.

Thanks.
Well spotted Krydahl, I hadn't noticed.
Now you point it out I will look into this. Looks like the sort has been moved to the outer loop, sorting on type instead of the app name. This is a side effect of the work on doing sub-folders I did recently. I will get to it tomorrow evening(Wed).

[Krydahl]

Great, thanks. No hurry.

[Malac]

Just uploaded the fix now. Rev #331.

[Krydahl]

Yep, that did the trick. Thanks.

[killerwhale65]

hello,

I was wondering how to add my favourite applications to the list?

Also, when i add the "terminal" plugin, i get a "no module named terminal" error.

Is there a list with plugins? It would be wise to be able to select them from a dropdown instead of having to type the name (which you don't know).

And can i add my favourite files and folders as well?

thanks!

Matt

[Krydahl]

I was wondering how to add my favourite applications to the list?

Which list precisely? You can mark an application that appears in the applications plugin as a favourite (right click on it) and it will appear in your favourites (which you can toggle between and all applications in the applications plugin).

If that doesn't work for you, you could also set up some shortcuts - that will give you a separate list of your favour apps. To do this, add the shortcuts plugin in your preferences (not forgetting to save the change), then create a launcher to the desired apps on your desktop. (I found it easiest to do this from the standard menu. If, like me, you've removed this from your panel because you're using USP2, just hit ALT+F1.) Now drag you launchers into the shortcuts area in USP. To do that, you need USP pinned. I found it easiest to do that by going into USP preferences and ticking the pin menu box in "main" until I'd finished adding all my shortcuts. (What this does is stop USP from disappearing when you click elsewhere on your desktop which allows you to grab the launchers.)

Also, when i add the "terminal" plugin, i get a "no module named terminal" error.

The terminal plugin is not enabled by default, it's one of the extras. To get it to work you need to create a link to your extras directory. If you don't know how to do that, type:

ln -s ~/downloads/SVN/ubuntu-system-panel/usp-extras/ ~/.usp/plugins

in a terminal. Note, however, that you may have to change the path I've specified - the first path should be to wherever you put your USP download when you installed initially. I think what I've specified here matches what the instructions at the Google code site suggests, but you need to check the path you've used to be sure.

Note that I had to remove USP from my panel and then add it again to get it to pick up the new plugins when I did this. There may be a better way to get it to detect the changes, but I don't know it.

Is there a list with plugins? It would be wise to be able to select them from a dropdown instead of having to type the name (which you don't know).

Yes here (http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/wiki/PluginInfo).

And can i add my favourite files and folders as well?

Any directories/files that you've bookmarked through nautilus will show up in your places list on USP. If you don't have places, just add the places plugin. Note that this can be toggled between places and bookmarks. (Bookmarks show up in bookmarks, obviously).

Hope this helps.

[Malac]

Thanks for fielding this Krydahl.
All good except you don't need to pin the menu as it now supports drag 'n' drop.
If you drag a folder to the USP button on the panel and hold it there USP should open, then move the mouse to the shortcuts plugin and release the left mouse button and it should place it in shortcuts.

Hope this helps.

[EnigMattic]

Thanks! Latest revision excellent!
Can't wait for USP3 -- how's it looking?
Guessing the new USP2 repo release must be nearly done?

[Krydahl]

Thanks for fielding this Krydahl.
All good except you don't need to pin the menu as it now supports drag 'n' drop.
If you drag a folder to the USP button on the panel and hold it there USP should open, then move the mouse to the shortcuts plugin and release the left mouse button and it should place it in shortcuts.

Hope this helps.

My pleasure - least I could do. Keep up the great work.

[killerwhale65]

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your extensive manual :)

question1: can i add files to my favourites as well in Nautilus? I only seem to be able to drop folders, but in your explanation you talk about folders/files.

question2: is it possible to have the menu open when i hoover over the menu button? I aks this because i am using AWN, and the only thing left now on my original gnome panel is the USP button. I have my panel behind AWN, but whenever i hit the USP button, it comes to the front and hides AWN. I could make the panel non-expanding, but then i end up with the ugly handels. Or is there any other way to have this working with AWN?

question3: Are you interested in having USP specific themes (not the GTK ones that it currently supports)? I am a graphical designer and would be happy to release design some good looking themes for this applet.
A pro to use a USP specific theme system, in my opinion is that the USP menu is something where you start almost every task on your PC, and is therefore very often used. And therefore, i find it important to have it look exactly the way you want.
If interested i could do a mockup.

Thanks!

Matt

[Krydahl]

question1 - my bad. No, you can only bookmark directories in nautilus so far as I know.

For files, there is a "recent" plugin that you might find useful, but I don't think it handles favourites.

Questions 2 & 3 I'll have to leave for Malac.

[Malac]

question1: can i add files to my favourites as well in Nautilus? I only seem to be able to drop folders, but in your explanation you talk about folders/files.
Use the shortcuts plugin. You may have to remove the nautilus by editing the shortcuts 'Exec' property after dropping by right-click and choosing edit.

question2: is it possible to have the menu open when i hoover over the menu button? I aks this because i am using AWN, and the only thing left now on my original gnome panel is the USP button. I have my panel behind AWN, but whenever i hit the USP button, it comes to the front and hides AWN. I could make the panel non-expanding, but then i end up with the ugly handels. Or is there any other way to have this working with AWN?
This is possible but may interfere with other functions. I will look into it.

question3: Are you interested in having USP specific themes (not the GTK ones that it currently supports)? I am a graphical designer and would be happy to release design some good looking themes for this applet.
A pro to use a USP specific theme system, in my opinion is that the USP menu is something where you start almost every task on your PC, and is therefore very often used. And therefore, i find it important to have it look exactly the way you want.
If interested i could do a mockup.
I would definitely be interested. Although we are currently working on a composite version of USP which will use a theme file to do drawing and apply textures, this is stilll some way off so in the meantime it would be great to have USP looking as good as possible.

Hope this helps.


EDIT : I've just uploaded a new version of uspconfig to the SVN that has a pull down list of the available plugins.(Rev #333)
This should hopefully help when adding plugins.

[delfick]

EDIT : I've just uploaded a new version of uspconfig to the SVN that has a pull down list of the available plugins.(Rev #333)
This should hopefully help when adding plugins.

nice :)

[killerwhale65]

Thanks for the assistance.

I will do a mockup one of these days of a possible theme.

regards,

Matt

[killerwhale65]

hello,

the terminal plugin is not usefull to start programs for example, because then you cant use it anymore (no prompt anymore), and also i believe the program quits when you close the menu. A variant of Alt-F2 (like the Run thingy, but then included in the menu as plugin) would have been better.

[delfick]

Also, the terminal plugin is not usefull to start programs for example, because then you cant use it anymore (no prompt anymore)

if you append the command with an ampersand '&' then it's run as a seperate process and the prompt is still free to be used.

for example, if I were to open a file with gedit but keep the prompt free, then I'd do

gedit file.txt &

:)

[killerwhale65]

nice, thanks (i am new to linux, can you tell ;-) )


Some more things:

1. when i rightclick a shortcut to edit its preferences, the edit dialog appears behind the menu, so i have to drag it a bit towards the top of my screen to be able to see it.

2. The favorite applications should have an option to hide the generic name, so that a lot of space can be saved.

3. Tab titles are not displayed,instead only a number is displayed (1, 2, 3 ...).

4. Maybe an idea to split the applications plugin into favourites and all apps? So that one can more easily have access to both.

[delfick]

nice, thanks (i am new to linux, can you tell ;-) )

that's alright, I was the same two years ago :)


2. The favorite applications should have an option to hide the generic name, so that a lot of space can be saved.

there is such an option.

under preferences -> Applications -> "Generic Name below Application"

3. Tab titles are not displayed,instead only a number is displayed (1, 2, 3 ...).

you have to define the name of the tab
I can't remember how to do that off the top of my head however....

[killerwhale65]

I would definitely be interested. Although we are currently working on a composite version of USP which will use a theme file to do drawing and apply textures, this is stilll some way off so in the meantime it would be great to have USP looking as good as possible.


Hello,

Attached you can find a possible mockup of a theme for USP. I have kept this one quite simple in design, many more is possible but might have been overkill for the mockup. Remember, its just a possibility, don't haunt me if you don't like the colors, other colors are possible, other themes are possible. This one could be called DarkRed. I can also do a DarkBlue and DarkGreen, and then those 3 but with a light background. Makes 6 themes already. After that i could do something totally different, and i would also be happy to design themes on request.

What do you think?

[Malac]

hello,

the terminal plugin is not usefull to start programs for example, because then you cant use it anymore (no prompt anymore), and also i believe the program quits when you close the menu. A variant of Alt-F2 (like the Run thingy, but then included in the menu as plugin) would have been better.
You can start programs in a terminal from the 'applications' plugin entry box if you start the entry with a '$' dollar sign (no quotes) e.g. $sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.confHello,

Attached you can find a possible mockup of a theme for USP. I have kept this one quite simple in design, many more is possible but might have been overkill for the mockup. Remember, its just a possibility, don't haunt me if you don't like the colors, other colors are possible, other themes are possible. This one could be called DarkRed. I can also do a DarkBlue and DarkGreen, and then those 3 but with a light background. Makes 6 themes already. After that i could do something totally different, and i would also be happy to design themes on request.

What do you think?
At the moment USP uses 'cut-down' or normal GTK themes which would mean this idea would not be possible with it as it would require rendering .
I think it is excellent and is exactly what we are looking to do with the next USP version. (Once I can get a decent rendering engine sorted for the new version.)
You have hit on the exact theme type chanders and myself were looking to incorporate.

Thanks very much for your ideas, we will try to incorporate this possibility into USP3.

[Malac]

Some more things:

1. when i rightclick a shortcut to edit its preferences, the edit dialog appears behind the menu, so i have to drag it a bit towards the top of my screen to be able to see it.

This is a bug I am trying to squash at the moment. :)
2. The favorite applications should have an option to hide the generic name, so that a lot of space can be saved.
This is a good idea, I will look into this.
3. Tab titles are not displayed,instead only a number is displayed (1, 2, 3 ...).
Hi delfick, :wave:
you have to define the name of the tab
I can't remember how to do that off the top of my head however....

Put the name of the tab after the newtab keyword
e.g. newtab=Standard Plugins

Add an Icon in [] square brackets
e.g. newtab=Standard Plugins[gnome-gmenu]
or just an icon newtab=[gnome-gmenu]

Add HotKey in {} curly brackets
e.g. newtab=Standard Plugins[gnome-gmenu]{<Ctrl><Super>S}

This gives:
81046
P.S. More explanations/instructions on USP can be found at the WIKI pages here:
http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/w/list
4. Maybe an idea to split the applications plugin into favourites and all apps? So that one can more easily have access to both.
Have you thought of using the shortcuts plugin for your favourite apps instead?

Hope this helps.

[delfick]

Hi delfick, :wave:

:wave: :)


Put the name of the tab after the newtab keyword
e.g. newtab=Standard Plugins

I knew it was something simple :p

[killerwhale65]

At the moment USP uses 'cut-down' or normal GTK themes which would mean this idea would not be possible with it as it would require rendering .
I think it is excellent and is exactly what we are looking to do with the next USP version. (Once I can get a decent rendering engine sorted for the new version.)
You have hit on the exact theme type chanders and myself were looking to incorporate.

Thanks very much for your ideas, we will try to incorporate this possibility into USP3.

OK, just let me know when you come to the theming part of USP 3, i will be happy to design some theme's for it.

Thanks for the help.


on http://code.google.com/p/ubuntu-system-panel/wiki/Themes i read about a thread containing a GTK theme develloped only for USP. That link is dead however. If anyone still has that file, i may be using it as a base to do theme's for USP2?

[Malac]

I will get back to you via pm when we get to that stage. Thanks.
i read about a thread containing a GTK theme develloped only for USP. That link is dead however. If anyone still has that file, i may be using it as a base to do theme's for USP2?

Attached theme file.

[killerwhale65]

I will get back to you via pm when we get to that stage. Thanks.
Thanks, i will be looking forward to this.


Attached theme file.
ok, i will see what i can do with this.

[Malac]

question2: is it possible to have the menu open when i hoover over the menu button?
Added this as an option on Main Tab in Preferences.
Hold mouse over button and menu opens. Hold over again and it closes.
SVN Rev#336

[Krydahl]

Something weird going on. I just did an update to pick up your latest version. Suddenly usp has lost all my preferences. I've copied a backup version of the .usp directory into my home. I've killed the gnome panel and removed and added USP again - still using all the default settings.

Any suggestions, or do I have to manually set everything up again?

[Krydahl]

I'm an idiot. I couldn't remember the exact syntax to do an update so went to the wiki and cut and pasted the command - except I didn't, I cut and & pasted a fresh install. No doubt this is why I lost my settings. Still don't know why copying in the old .usp folder didn't sort it though.

[Malac]

I'm an idiot. I couldn't remember the exact syntax to do an update so went to the wiki and cut and pasted the command - except I didn't, I cut and & pasted a fresh install. No doubt this is why I lost my settings. Still don't know why copying in the old .usp folder didn't sort it though.
The settings for preferences are not in the .usp folder they are held in the gnome/gconf store. If you backed up your settings using the option in Preferences you can restore them from there too. If you didn't backup the settings then if you have an old backup of your home folder you could find the ~/.gconf/apps/usp directory and copy that back over then logout/reboot.

Hope this helps.

[Krydahl]

Yup - tah.

[killerwhale65]

Added this as an option on Main Tab in Preferences.
Hold mouse over button and menu opens. Hold over again and it closes.
SVN Rev#336

Thanks, works like a charm!

I am struggling to learn about GTK theming. It takes some time to learn the settings file and where all the theme-images show up in the panel, but i will get there so i will release a theme soon!

[killerwhale65]

One thing i cant seem to find is what colors the vertical separator. It seems to always have the same color, no matter what theme i use. Is this hard-coded into USP?

[Mazza558]

Could you please reconsider adding the option for multiple buttons on the taskbar to act as different tabs? If you think about how Ubuntu's default is set up, it has 2 panels, and the top panel has an enormous amount of space to use up. If you did this, it would be possible for USP to replace the current menu Ubuntu uses and improve the experience for everybody.

This is, of course, dependent on how easy it is to write/modify the code to do this.

[Malac]

Could you please reconsider adding the option for multiple buttons on the taskbar to act as different tabs? If you think about how Ubuntu's default is set up, it has 2 panels, and the top panel has an enormous amount of space to use up. If you did this, it would be possible for USP to replace the current menu Ubuntu uses and improve the experience for everybody.

This is, of course, dependent on how easy it is to write/modify the code to do this.
I'm not sure what you mean by "the default layout has two panels" and "the top panel has an enormous amount of space to use up", that aside multiple instances of USP would require a complete re-code from the ground up as the original idea was for one button. There is only one instance of the USP entries in gconf and it would be a bit of a 'Heath Robinson' ('Rube Goldberg' ) solution to try and bolt on code to divide this up into a random number of instances using the existing code. Sorry about that. I will look into adding this possibility into USP3.

One thing i cant seem to find is what colors the vertical separator. It seems to always have the same color, no matter what theme i use. Is this hard-coded into USP?
The vertical separator is a file called dotted.png which is located in /usr/share/usp along with the glade files.
I think it is a bit of a throwback to the original USP and should probably be re-thought. I will look at coding this as part of the GTK layout instead. Though I am busy this weekend I will look at it if I can next week.

[killerwhale65]

The vertical separator is a file called dotted.png which is located in /usr/share/usp along with the glade files.
I think it is a bit of a throwback to the original USP and should probably be re-thought. I will look at coding this as part of the GTK layout instead. Though I am busy this weekend I will look at it if I can next week.

OK, no wonder i didnt find this, i never looked for images in that folder. Would indeed be best if everything that has to do with layout would be part of the theme. Thanks!

[killerwhale65]

ok, i've come to the conclusion that the current GTK theming engine does not really provide in the theming flexibility i am looking for. Therefore i have decided not to make themes for the current USP2, but rather wait to make the themes for USP3, with its own theming engine.
Please do not hesitate to contact me once you are up to this part of USP3!


As for USP2:
-i've found that the resources plugin does not work: the CPU shows always 0%, while the memory shows 98% used, but in the system monitor its only 57%.
-i've noticed that the more i use the preferences dialog, the busier my CPU gets. In the end i end up with 100% CPU usage constantly, while i am not doing anything. Once i remove USP from the panel, CPU usage instantly drops to 1-2%. I think this only happens while switching themes constantly (on the main tab, the first textbox). Is it possible that it keeps calculating all themes i have added during this session? For example: i add USP to my panel - it shows theme1, then i enter a new theme (theme2), but it calculates also theme1. I now enter theme3, and it calculates for 3 themes ... In the end i end up with having entered 10 themes, and calculating 10 themes uses all my CPU?

Thanks and have a nice weekend!

Matt

[Mazza558]

I'm not sure what you mean by "the default layout has two panels" and "the top panel has an enormous amount of space to use up", that aside multiple instances of USP would require a complete re-code from the ground up as the original idea was for one button. There is only one instance of the USP entries in gconf and it would be a bit of a 'Heath Robinson' ('Rube Goldberg' ) solution to try and bolt on code to divide this up into a random number of instances using the existing code. Sorry about that. I will look into adding this possibility into USP3.




I meant the default Ubuntu panel layout - one bar at the top and one at the bottom. Ubuntu's normal menu (the application-places-system thing) would be awesome if each button opened a separate panel. If it requires too much code then that's fair enough. Thanks for considering it in USP3 though.

[killerwhale65]

BUG: when i add amsn.desktop to the compact list:
-icons from compact list are all gone in frontend (still listed in backend)
-applications plugin height has become 2/3 smaller in frontend, in backend still ok
-clicking "all programs" does nothing anymore (can only display favorites)

EDIT: HELP: i removed USP from panel, now i want to add it again, i click "add" but nothing happens? It does not add to my panel anymore:sad:

[Malac]

BUG: when i add amsn.desktop to the compact list:
-icons from compact list are all gone in frontend (still listed in backend)
-applications plugin height has become 2/3 smaller in frontend, in backend still ok
-clicking "all programs" does nothing anymore (can only display favorites)

EDIT: HELP: i removed USP from panel, now i want to add it again, i click "add" but nothing happens? It does not add to my panel anymore:sad:
There may be something in the amsn.desktop file that is causing odd behaviour.
Open a terminal and run:usp run-in-window and post any errors it spits out, including what happens when "All Applications" is pressed.
Or in a terminal run:uspconfig and remove the entry added for amsn.desktop and see if that sorts out adding USP to panel.
If you want whilst in uspconfig do a backup of your settings and tar then attach it here.
I would be interested in any errors as I could then trap them for an update patch. Thanks.

Hope this helps.


EDIT 1 : Okay I checked out my theory and a malformed .desktop file will cause the compact list to not display at all. I have uploaded a fix to catch this and display the offending button as an error. I will check the applications plugin for the same thing. SVN Rev# 339

EDIT 2 : Can you also attach the offending amsn.desktop in the tar as I cannot re-create the behaviour in All Applications. I need to know what the file contains to see where the error is occurring.
Did you create the amsn.desktop file yourself or in alacarte or was it installed via synaptic or a downloaded .deb package?

[killerwhale65]

hello,

Thanks for your help.

First of all i should mention that after a reboot USP is still not shown, and i can still not add it to the panel.

Then i ran "usp run-in-window":
matt@ubuntu:~$ usp run-in-window
******** PLEASE IGNORE ANY API VERSION WARNING ***********
********** IT SHOULD NOT EFFECT USP OPERATION ************
Using Tabbed Menu
system_management: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
terminal: loaded successfully
['file:///home/matt/Documents']
['file:///home/matt/Music']
['file:///home/matt/.themes']
['file:///home/matt/Pictures']
['file:///home/matt/Videos']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1107, in <module>
menu_factory(app, None)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1092, in menu_factory
MenuWin(applet, iid)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 785, in __init__
self.mainwin = MainWindow()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 70, in __init__
self.PopulatePlugins()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 479, in PopulatePlugins
self.plugins[plugin].do_plugin()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 798, in do_plugin
self.do_applications_file()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 279, in do_applications_file
LabelOrder = [ApplicationData[4], ApplicationData[0]]
IndexError: list index out of range


Note that nothing more happens then this terminal output. I don't see any USP window so i cant press "all applications".

Then i ran uspconfig from the terminal. This nicely opened the configurator screen. No errors in the terminal. In shortcuts, the amsn.desktop file was not mentioned anymore. I also deleted 2 other programs from the list (gedit and gcalc). I backed up, and together with the amsn.desktop file i have attached it.
I did not make the amsn.desktop myself, that happened during installation.

Then i downloaded your latest version, but it still does not add to the panel.

Heres once more the output of "usp run-in-window", now with the newest version.
matt@ubuntu:~$ usp run-in-window
******** PLEASE IGNORE ANY API VERSION WARNING ***********
********** IT SHOULD NOT EFFECT USP OPERATION ************
Using Tabbed Menu
system_management: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
terminal: loaded successfully
['file:///home/matt/Documents']
['file:///home/matt/Music']
['file:///home/matt/.themes']
['file:///home/matt/Pictures']
['file:///home/matt/Videos']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1107, in <module>
menu_factory(app, None)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1092, in menu_factory
MenuWin(applet, iid)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 785, in __init__
self.mainwin = MainWindow()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 70, in __init__
self.PopulatePlugins()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 472, in PopulatePlugins
self.plugins[plugin].do_plugin()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 798, in do_plugin
self.do_applications_file()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 279, in do_applications_file
LabelOrder = [ApplicationData[4], ApplicationData[0]]
IndexError: list index out of range


Nothing more happens...


I have then completely uninstalled it, including settings, and reinstalled. Now it works (for now ...).

[Malac]

Heres once more the output of "usp run-in-window", now with the newest version.
matt@ubuntu:~$ usp run-in-window
******** PLEASE IGNORE ANY API VERSION WARNING ***********
********** IT SHOULD NOT EFFECT USP OPERATION ************
Using Tabbed Menu
system_management: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
terminal: loaded successfully
['file:///home/matt/Documents']
['file:///home/matt/Music']
['file:///home/matt/.themes']
['file:///home/matt/Pictures']
['file:///home/matt/Videos']
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1107, in <module>
menu_factory(app, None)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1092, in menu_factory
MenuWin(applet, iid)
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 785, in __init__
self.mainwin = MainWindow()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 70, in __init__
self.PopulatePlugins()
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 472, in PopulatePlugins
self.plugins[plugin].do_plugin()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 798, in do_plugin
self.do_applications_file()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/applications.py", line 279, in do_applications_file
LabelOrder = [ApplicationData[4], ApplicationData[0]]
IndexError: list index out of range
Nothing more happens...


I have then completely uninstalled it, including settings, and reinstalled. Now it works (for now ...).
Looks like there was a strange entry in the ~/.usp/applications.list file or the associated .desktop file in ~/.usp/applications folder. The other files you sent are fine and work perfectly on my system. It looks like the un-install and re-install sorted out this by deleting the old applications file/folder on the un-install and re-creating them on the re-install.

Thanks for the error reports this will help me trap this in a patch which I will work on this week.
This should have been caught by me at an earlier stage than this, unfortunately you have been the one that has discovered this bug. Thanks again for taking the time to report and help track it down.

[Krydahl]

Is the hot key (<Ctrl><Alt>U by default) meant to open USP without clicking on the panel icon? If so, it doesn't seem to work for me. What do I need to do to enable it please?

[Malac]

Is the hot key (<Ctrl><Alt>U by default) meant to open USP without clicking on the panel icon? If so, it doesn't seem to work for me. What do I need to do to enable it please?
Check that the "Disable HotKey" checkbox is clear in Preferences, Main Tab.

compiz sometimes uses certain keys for it's effects.
If you remove USP from the panel and run:
usp run-in-window it will report a binding error if this is the case.

It should look something like this :
malac@ubuntu:~$ usp run-in-window
******** PLEASE IGNORE ANY API VERSION WARNING ***********
********** IT SHOULD NOT EFFECT USP OPERATION ************
Using Tabbed Menu
Static User Image Used
uspuser: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
computer: loaded successfully
places: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
uspcalendar: loaded successfully
remind: loaded successfully
system_management: loaded successfully
template: loaded successfully
Static User Image Used
Static User Image Used

** (usp:26529): WARNING **: Binding '<Ctrl><Alt>U' failed!

Binding USP Menu to Hotkey: <Ctrl><Alt>U
If so try a different key for USP or find the compiz key and change that.

[Krydahl]

Thanks for the response. The "Disable HotKey" checkbox is clear.

I get:

Using Standard Menu
places: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
system_management: loaded successfully

Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Run Hotkey Binding Error

Then a little bit later:

(usp:27461): Bonobo-WARNING **: Never got frame, control died - abnormal exit condition

[Malac]

Thanks for the response. The "Disable HotKey" checkbox is clear.

I get:

Using Standard Menu
places: loaded successfully
shortcuts: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
system_management: loaded successfully

Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Run Hotkey Binding ErrorThen a little bit later:

(usp:27461): Bonobo-WARNING **: Never got frame, control died - abnormal exit condition

That suggests that the key is already assigned somewhere on your system. As a test try <Shift><Super>U and <Shift><Meta>U and see if either of those works.

If not, can you check that you have file _keybinder.so in /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins.
If you have then try manually copying the file from where you downloaded USP SVN then the sub folder '/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins' to main folder /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins.

If this still does not work try installing tomboy if it is not already installed.
sudo apt-get install tomboy

[Krydahl]

Tried a couple of key combinations (not <Shift><Meta>U because I'm not sure which key Meta is) but all give the same result:

Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Run Hotkey Binding Error

(usp:27942): Bonobo-WARNING **: Never got frame, control died - abnormal exit condition
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/usp", line 1110, in <module>
gtk.main()

(That last bit may have been me hitting Ctl+C while trying to cut and paste from the terminal)

The file _keybinder.so does exist and I already have tomboy installed and do use it with no problems.

I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling, see if that helps.

[Krydahl]

Nope, tried a complete uninstall, deleted ~/.usp, reinstalled and still get:

Using Standard Menu
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
uspuser: loaded successfully
system_management: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Run Hotkey Binding Error

(usp:28518): Bonobo-WARNING **: Never got frame, control died - abnormal exit condition


The Bonobo bit takes a couple of minutes before it shows up. Is that related at all, or something else entirely?

[Malac]

Nope, tried a complete uninstall, deleted ~/.usp, reinstalled and still get:

Using Standard Menu
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
uspuser: loaded successfully
system_management: loaded successfully
applications: loaded successfully
recent: loaded successfully
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
No User Picture Specified or File Not Found
Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Run Hotkey Binding Error

(usp:28518): Bonobo-WARNING **: Never got frame, control died - abnormal exit condition
The Bonobo bit takes a couple of minutes before it shows up. Is that related at all, or something else entirely?
The Bonobo -WARNING is unrelated and has been present since USP 0.41 it does not cause any issues.

If it was a key in use then the error should come back as ** (usp:12470): WARNING **: Binding '<Shift>Super_L' failed! with your key code in the single quotes.

The error you're getting suggests it is the keybinder.so driver which is erroring.
I will keep trying to emulate this but have failed so far. I'll try getting some more info out of the bindkey function as to what is erroring.

I have attached a temporary usp which should hopefully report more error information.
Backup the one you have in /usr/bin and then extract replace it with the one in the attached tar file and run usp run-in-window.
Post the errors it reports.
Thanks.

[Krydahl]

OK, done. Gives:

Binding USP Menu to Hotkey: <Ctrl><Alt>U
Menu Hotkey Binding Error
Trying to Bind Key Combination : <Ctrl><Alt>U
Error Report :
global name 'bindkey' is not defined

[killerwhale65]

hello,

Whenever i switch from favorites to all applications, the applications widget becomes slightly wider, only to become smaller again when i switch back to favorites. This is probably because of some items with a long name, however they do not show completely in "all applications" anyway, so there is no need for the widget to become 20px wider, and thats rather annoying.

[AJB2K3]

Sorry if this been covered but I haven't found the answer in 24 hrs.

How do I install the usp extras?
All I want is the places section.

[Krydahl]

Places doesn't require extras.

To get the places plugin working, right click on the USP icon and select preferences.

On the right hand side of the window you'll see a box labelled "plugins".

Click the "add" button to the right of that. In the popup that appears, use the drop down list to see all the possible plugins - you want 'places'. Click OK.

Use the up and down arrows to get the places plugin where you want it in the list of all plugins. (This will control where it appears in USP.) You may also want to add a new plane (click the button labelled that) as well, this will make places appear in its own column rather than underneath the plugin its underneath in the list.

When you're done, click the save button to the bottom right of the preferences window or your changes will be lost (this step is only necessary when changing which plugins you want to use).

[rogerdean]

best SLED-like menu i've found is pinched from Linux Mint - you can pick it up here

http://www.linuxmint.com/repository/pool/daryna/m/mintmenu/mintmenu_3.2_i386.deb

the icon is /usr/share/pixmaps/mintmenu.png so you can replace that with an ubuntu icon or whatever you like

[AJB2K3]

Places doesn't require extras.

To get the places plugin working, right click on the USP icon and select preferences.

On the right hand side of the window you'll see a box labelled "plugins&q